Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: gardner fox, gil kane

Madame .44's Attempt to Save DC Comics' All-Star Western, at Auction

Created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane, Madame .44 seems to have been introduced to shake up what was then DC Comics' worst-selling title.

DC Comics' All-Star Western is an interesting example of how comic book publishers adapted to the changing tides of the comic book industry after World War II. With the popularity of superheroes on the decline, DC transformed All-Star Comics, a series best remembered as the home of the Justice Society of America, into a Western title, continuing the numbering with All-Star Western #58 in 1951. The rebooted series lasted for 62 issues over the next decade, featuring a rotating cast of characters. One of these was Johnny Thunder, who had been created for DC's All-American Comics in 1948 by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Alex Toth. The character would eventually become All-Star Western's regular cover feature.  But by 1960, comic book readership trends came for All-Star again, and this time, it would appear that DC Comics made a last-ditch attempt at reviving the title with the introduction of a new character, Madame .44, to the regular Johnny Thunder cover feature with All-Star Western #117.  The character was created by Gardner Fox and Gil Kane.

All-Star Western's sales figures were dead last among the circulation data reported by the company in Statements of Ownership released in 1960, with the average number of copies sold per issue coming in at 19% of the company's top-selling title that year, Superman.  In this context, the introduction of Madame .44 as Johnny Thunder's frenemy in All-Star Western #117-119 seems to be a last-ditch attempt to shake the title up.

Madame .44 was a Western take on the Robin Hood anti-hero concept. The character was Jeanne Walker, a crack shot with a .44 caliber pistol who was also a skilled horse rider and hand-to-hand combatant. Jeanne's father had discovered a gold mine, but his partner cheated him out of his claim, leading to her father's death. Infuriated by a legal system that had failed her family, Jeanne became Madame .44, and set out to right the wrongs that the law couldn't handle.  As Madame .44, she robbed people "who prey on human beings like legal vultures" in order to return their ill-gotten gains to their victims.

Unfortunately, this attempt at adding a new dimension to the series was apparently not enough to save the title, as the series ended with issue #119.  All-Star Western was briefly revived in 1970, and again as part of the New 52 in 2011.  Madame .44 as a character has been revived in small roles a couple of times as well. There are copies of her foundational story arc in All-Star Western #117-119 up for auction in the 2024 July 21-23 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122430 at Heritage Auctions.

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